High level of competition attracted Liu to British F4

Chinese racer Jacky Liu has said the higher standard of competition lured him to the British Formula 4 championship.

Liu will make his British racing debut with GW Motorsport, a team also new to the British F4 grid.

“This is a dream come true,” he said. “I have come to British F4 from China because the standard is so much higher here.”

Liu only has a season car racing under his belt, but GW team owner Gary Ward believes the teenager has made great progress in that time.

“We’re hopeful we can do a really good job this year,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to learn and we are up against the best teams with the likes of Carlin, Fortec, and Arden.

“This time last year, Jacky was karting and he’s come so far since then under our guidance. We’ve worked very hard and we’ve made so much progress.”

Though there is a winter testing ban, Liu was able to get out in the F4 car last year before the ban. The teenager ran 150 laps at Blyton Park in the wet, and is looking for some dry running when he takes part in next week’s official test.

Liu is the only driver announced to be racing for GW so far, but the teamis open to expanding its ranks this year and in the future.

“We’ve got a few other drivers on out books who are working their way up the ranks in karting and one will hopefully make the step up to British F4 next year,” said Ward.

“We would welcome another driver coming on board to race in British F4 this year. We’ve got all the resources in place to achieve great results.”